Amy Schlauder

Dearest Gaye Dawg,

I miss you, but I'm so excited to see you again. Especially because the next time you see me, you wont have to worry about my crappy back, my broken finger, or those nasty blisters on the bottoms of my feet. You might not know what to do with me, healthy, and I'm sure you'll be busy doing amazing things, but I'll be so happy to steal you for a minute, just to chat. I'll give you a big hug, without thinking twice about hurting you. And I'll compliment your hair 'cause it will be just the way you like it.

When I see you again, I'm looking forward to so many things. First of all, I can hardly wait to meet your man. :) But I hope I'll have a lot to tell you too. Like stories of being a mother, learned from way you were a mother to me. By then, I want to tell you the things I learned from hard experiences in my life, and I will thank you for showing me how to deal with adversity. I want to talk about what I learned as a teacher, and how I learned from you that the best teaching comes from example. I'll laugh with you about how I felt like the school psychologist, instead of psychology teacher. And I'll hug you again for being the world's best shrink.

I hope my faith is stronger by then, and I can better explain how your faith continued to strengthen mine throughout my life. I'll laugh with you about how silly and stupid I was in college, but I'll probably cry while I thank you again for never making me feel silly or stupid

When I see you again, I want to have someone else's tears on my shirt, just like the pools you always let me leave on yours. I hope to even have a little massage lotion on my hands. [You would always give me back massages, just to make me feel better, fully knowing they wouldn't heal my back.] I hope by then, I'll have figured out how to heal souls like you did mine, and so many others. I hope by this time, you'll know how much I really do appreciate you. I'm gonna talk to you about life when I see you again. And by then, hopefully I'll get it half as good as you do.

So it looks like I have a whole lot to learn. It might be a while, but I really am looking forward to seeing you again. I love you so much, Gaye. I know I am a better person because I know you.See you soon and love you always

Amy